Chapter 9: Thought, Language, and Intelligence pgs: 358-380Intelligence:•Intelligence – a concept, or construct, refers to the ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment Intelligence in Historical Perspective:•Galton grew out of a scientific desire to extend Darwin’s theory of evolution to the inheritance of mental abilities •Binet concerned with finding a means to identify “mental defective” children who would be unable to profit from normal educational experiences. Sir Francis Galton: Quantifying Mental Ability •Believed intelligence ran in families and that people “inherited mental constitutions” that made them more fit for thinkingAlfred Binet’s Mental Tests:•Developed an intelligence test for France’s Ministry of Public Education •He was interested in solving a practical problem •To develop this test he had two assumptions; that mental abilities develop with age, and that the rate at which people gain mental competence is a characteristic of the person and is fairly constant over time •To develop a measure for mental skills he asked teacher what problems children of all grades could solve – developed a standardized interview in which an adult asked a child questions appropriate for their age•The result of the testing was a score called mental age – the child’s placement in a grade would be determined by their mental age•Mental age works pretty well for children, but not for adults•People IQ’s have become higher since 1910 due to better nutrition, and enriching environmentsThe Standard-Binet and Wechsler Scales:•A translation of Binet’s test into English for American testing•Wechsler scales are its competitor that tested verbal and non-verbal abilities and measured a range of intellectual skills (verbal tests and performance tests)Group Tests of Aptitude and Achievement:•Group tests of intelligence can be used to obtain IQ scores from groups of people at the same time and are used y many schools•Achievement tests – find out how much people have learned in school•Aptitude tests –go beyond prior learning, they measure the applicant’s potential for future learning and performance. Scientific Standards for Psychological Tests:•Psychological test – a method for measuring individual differences related to some psychological concept, or construct, based on a sample of relevant behaviour in a scientifically and controlled situation. •Three key measurement concepts: reliability, validity, and standardizationReliability:•Reliability – consistency of measurement, and consistency can take several forms •Test-retest reliability – administering the measure to the same group of participants on two separate occasions and correlating the two sets of scores•Internal consistency –consistency of measurement within the test itself•Interjudge reliability –

This
preview
has intentionally blurred sections.
Sign up to view the full version.